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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoRAHMAT GUL | ASSOCIATED PRESSAfghan soldiers investigate near the entrance to the presidential palace in Kabul. Eight suicide attackers began a firefight nearby but were defeated by Afghan troops yesterday.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban attack at the gates of the Afghan presidential palace cast a cold
light yesterday on the course of a war that Washington remains committed to ending.

A week after NATO forces handed all security operations to the Afghans, local forces fought off
the attackers on their own, killing all eight militants without calling in coalition help.

The firefight took place in Ariana square, about 500 yards and several checkpoints away from the
presidential palace, where President Hamid Karzai apparently was preparing for a speech later in
the morning. The attack could complicate American efforts to get Karzai’s government to sit down
with the Taliban to talk peace.

President Barack Obama later talked with Karzai in a video conference that lasted more than an
hour and covered issues including the peace process and the newly opened Taliban political office
in the Gulf nation of Qatar, Karzai’s office said without giving details.

The White House said Obama and Karzai affirmed that Afghanistan, not the United States, must
lead the reconciliation process. The leaders also said they still support meetings between
Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and Taliban representatives at the Qatar office.

The Taliban have said they would continue fighting even as they pursued peace talks, and the
attack served to drive that home, said Moeen Marastial, a political analyst and former member of
the Afghan parliament.

“The main point is, the Taliban want to show to the government of Afghanistan and to the world
and to the powers who are working for the peace process that they are in power,” Marastial said.
"They can come close to the palace, they can come close to the places where NATO is, where American
forces are. They wanted to show to the world that ‘we can do it.'"

The gunbattle started about 6:30 a.m. near the east gate leading to the palace next to the
Afghan Ministry of Defense and the former Ariana Hotel, which former U.S. intelligence officials
have confirmed is used by the CIA. One carload of Taliban fighters dressed in military-style
camouflage uniforms emerged from their black Land Cruiser and started shooting.

Another got stuck between two checkpoints and detonated their explosives-laden vehicle. The
Taliban said all eight of their fighters died in the attack, and the Interior Ministry said three
security guards were killed and one was wounded. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an
emailed statement that “eight of our suicide bombers were able to reach the most secure area of
Kabul.”

He identified them by name and said they carried hand grenades, a machine gun and
rocket-propelled grenades.

“The brave mujahedeen, with special tactics and help from inside, were able to reach their
target with their weapons and cars,” he said.

He said their targets were the CIA building, the palace and the Defense Ministry, and he claimed
that “ a number of foreign invaders were killed and wounded in the attack.” Karzai reacted sharply,
saying the Taliban cannot on one hand open an office for peace in Qatar and on the other hand kill
people in Afghanistan.

“The enemies of the people of Afghanistan once again proved with their failed attack that they
are against peace, stability and progress in Afghanistan,” he said.

Elsewhere yesterday, in the southern province of Kandahar, a minibus hit a bomb buried in the
road, killing 11 members of a groom’s family on their way to an engagement party, said Kandahar
governor’s spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal. He said the dead included eight women, two children and a
man, and two other men were also wounded.